Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Hsieh Su-wei continued their impressive form in the Australian Open women’s doubles by beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2 yesterday in their third-round match.
Chuang and Hsieh, who have yet to drop a set at this year’s event, served effectively, winning an impressive 79 percent of their points on first serve compared with their opponents’ figure of 44 percent.
Later in the day, Chuang had further cause for celebration when she and Dick Norman of Belgium knocked No. 8 seeds Barbora Zahalova Strycova of the Czech Republic and Austria’s Oliver Marach out of the mixed doubles with a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Once again, the first serve percentage was impressive, as the Belgian-Taiwanese pair claimed 27 out of 33 points on their first serve, including seven aces.
Meanwhile, Chan Yung-jan’s promising run in the women’s doubles came to an end in a third-round defeat by 12th seeds Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Maria Kirilenko of Russia.
The Belarussian-Russian pair cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Chan and Poland’s Agnieska Radwanska, who may have been feeling the effects of a tough victory over China’s Peng Shuai in the singles earlier in the day.
Although Chan said she intends to renew her partnership with regular doubles partner Zheng Jie of China, she may well take to the courts with Radwanska again.
“If she [Zheng] isn’t playing in a tournament, we may team up again,” Chan said last week of Radwanska, who at 21 is the same age as Chan.
Chan added in the long-run, she and Radwanska may play together more regularly, with 27-year-old Zheng approaching the veteran stage of her career.
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